The new threat
by CloudD
Summary: after returning from a camping trip, Cloud get's abducted. Tifa and Barret try to get there friend back. Then they find out that not all is well. My first FanFic ever, please review and be honest.
1. Prologue and chapter one

Chapter one

**Disclaimer;**

I'm not the creator of the characters or city's described in this story.

I don't own the copyrights of Final Fantasy VII.

They belong to SQUARE SOFT INC. and SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT.

I only wrote this fanfic for entertainment purposes.

Not to make money in any way.

It's for fans by a fan.

Don't sue me.

I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Cloud_D 

FFVII 

Prologue

"Come on, you gotta see this." A little boy ran up the hill shouting to a couple of boys to follow him. "Well there he goes again, can't you do something about you're brother?" the tallest of the group asked the only one who wasn't fully dressed in black. "You're a member of our group now, so tell you're kid to stop following you." The tall boy who seemed to be the leader placed his hand on his hips. "Tell him that we don't have time to play anymore." 

"Aren't you guys ready yet? He's very eager to show us something!" A chubby boy had turned away from the other group and was walking back to them.

"Do you know what it is, that thing Adam wants to show us, Lind?" the boy asked Lind.

Lind shook his head. "I haven't got the foggiest." 

Lind looked at the sky; it would be night soon and they all known that at night this wasn't the safest place to be.

"Yo Lind, didn't you have a cute sister too?" The leader of the group hit Lind on his back. Lind turned and pushed the boy away. "My, my aren't we a bit… " 

"**My God, guys you should get up here!**" Someone was jelling from top of the hill. "Now what does he want?" The leader was looking at the boy on the hill. "I think we should go and take a look." The leader gave Lind a grin and started to run up the hill. Lind shook his head and ran after him. The chubby boy raised his shoulders and followed them.

Lind soon cached up with the other boy. "What are they shouting about?" "How the hell should I know? It's not like I've been here before."

When they reached the top they stopped dead in there tracks. The group didn't say a thing; they were all shocked because of what they saw. It was Midgar or better it used to be Midgar. The once mighty city controlled by Shinra was completely destroyed. Holy had eliminated not only meteor but also got rid of the biggest city ever build by man.

"I can't believe my eyes." The leader of the group dropped to his knees.

"So it was true what they said, Midgar was destroyed."

Adam was hopping up and down. "Ya see, ya see. Isn't this beautiful?"

He ran up to Lind and grabbed his hand. "Come, come there's more I want to show you and you're friends."

He started pulling his brother with him. "You'll never believe me, now come." The group looked at they're leader. "What?? Let's follow the brat, there ain't no harm in that."

They gave each other a grin and started to climb down the steep hillside.

"You said that…" The boy never finished his sentence because behind them a large part of Midgar exploded and the flying debris landed near the boy. "Look…" A second explosion threw more pieces of concrete and metal against the hill. Half a building landed on top of the hill, causing the hillside to crumble and crash on top of the children.

A hand rose from the center of the explosion, pushing away large pieces of scrap metal and concrete. "Ahh, finally some fresh air." A head rose next to the hand. "So this is how it feels like to be reborn?" A man started to emerge from the debris. "I can't thank Hojo enough for injecting me with the last of the Jenova cells."

The man was dressed in white although you couldn't see it with all the dirt on his clothes. The dust and smoke of the explosion started to fade. The man took a look around.

"So my old man's city is totally destroyed, isn't that a pity." He removed some off the dust from his clothes and took a longer look at Midgar. He saw there was nothing that wasn't totally wrecked.

"Well, well I should start to look for another place to live, there's nothing than dust and rubble here." A cloud settled in front of the sun, covering the land in shades. The man looked up to see what blocked the sunlight.

"O, that reminds me," he started to grin. "Let's say hi to some old friends. Mhuhahaha… koff koff... huff... weeze. Humph… must have been down there to long." He tried to climb over a broken office desk but suddenly he started to float above the ground.

"…O yes I remember. I saw HIM do this to. Hmm first I should try to master my new powers and then…" He waved his hand through the air. "I'm going to swat some bothersome flies."

He concentrated and started to float higher and higher until he was nothing more than a little black dot in the sky. All of the smoke was gone and nothing indicated that something had happened here.

**"Adam, Lind!! Where are you?** Are you sure they went here?" A female reached the top of the hill. "Well… you know how Adam was talking 'bout this here hill." A man stood next to the female. "O my, this is Midgar!" The sight of Midgar was impressive now that the sun was descending. The red and orange glow of the sunset made the destroyed city look as if it was the most beautiful place in the world. But the two people knew better. This used to be the place were the disease called Shinra came from.

"Well it seems that there not here so let's go." The female turned around. She suddenly felt a cold shiver crawl up her spine. "Come on this here place gives me the creeps." The man simply nodded took one last look around and then left. "I wonder were the boys could be?"

Chapter one

**The trouble starts **

** **

** **

** **

One year later…

The city of Kalm, once just another small village.

Now it was a city almost as big as the once mighty capital Midgar. A lot of residents used to live in Midgar, but after the disaster they'd fled and started a new life in Kalm.

Its city center was remained as it used to be, having only one road leading in.

Next to the entrance there was the famous inn called 'The Drifting Chocobo'.

Nobody remembered were the name came from, but they all had they're own stories about its origin.

In the middle of the city square there was a monument to honor the mysterious hero's who'd stopped Meteor from falling.

The statue had the shape of a hand. It was holding a sword and pointed it in the direction of Midgar.

Past the statue there was the higher part of town. Up there, there were three stores; an item store, which was run by a young man who'd bought it from the previous owner.

Next to that were two other stores, or better one other store. It sold both weapons and materia. Both owners had met on a festival once, fell in love and got married. They decided to brake down the wall between them, but after being married for twenty years they sometimes wished that they had left the wall where it used to be.

Underneath the stores was a gate. 

That gate was the entrance to one of the busiest places in Kalm.

It was a pub called 'The Missing Score'. The owner was a young girl; she had come to Kalm not long after the destruction of Midgar.

"Gwahahaha... Ya must be kiddin'... ya didn't do that, did ya?" An old miner was sitting at a table talking to a couple of other miners. "Ya damn right I did." A younger miner took a big sip from his drink. "That ^#@*& inspector trying to nose 'round me mine." He stood up to get another drink. "I'll tell ya, next time he comes." He showed them his Fire materia. "He'll have trouble sittin' for weeks."

The group busted out in laughter. "Yo Dart, how's bout givin' me another." The young man bellowed at the bar. But there was no response. "Come on Dart, I know it closing time but..." "Dart is out back, but I'll give you something. So what will it be?" The young man's jaw fell open; it was the owner herself. He'd never seen a more beautiful woman than her. She had long, dark brown hair. Her eyes were a deep brown color, and it seemed as if little stars where twinkling in them.

He cleared his throat and tried to speak.

"...Erm, I'll… have a… Kalm special...please." he muttered. 

The girl smiled and made him his drink. "Here you go." She said as she handed it over. The young miner couldn't say something and just stood there staring at her.

When he realized he was staring he quickly turned and went back to his table.

When he got there, he heard the other men talking.

"Did ya hear 'bout Corel?" One of them asked. "Now that the Mako reactor's are down, there's a big need for other power sources."

Another knotted. "Yeah, I've heard. Seems that it got rebuild and providin' a lot of cities with coals." One of the older miners stood up. "Well boys, I'll see ya'll tomorrow in the mine. I'm off."

The others said goodbye and continued they're conversations.

"Oke boys, closing time so bottle up!" Dart, the bartender shouted.

Everyone finished they're drinks and went home, complaining that 04:00 isn't a normal time to close a bar.

Dart was cleaning the bar when Tifa walked out of the kitchen.

"They'll be back this week, won't they?" Dart referred to Cloud, Barret and Marlene, they went on a camping trip two weeks ago. Tifa smiled and answer; "I can hardly wait for them to get back. I wonder if Cloud and Barret got along this time." Dart laughed, he knew how Cloud and Barret acted when they were together. "I think they did just fine, besides Marlene was with them, never saw them act as if they couldn't get along in front of her."

"Yeah, I guess you're right, come on let's clean up and go home."

They cleaned the bar, said goodnight and went home. Tomorrow will be another busy day, like almost every day in their bar.

Ramuh Saikrom wasn't a messenger for long, he'd wanted to see the world and this job was a perfect opportunity.

At least that's what he thought, now he wasn't so sure anymore.

He'd lost his chocobo and was forced to walk to the next town.

And when he was almost there, he'd run into a group of monsters.

He was able to outrun most of them, but one was very persistent and didn't give up.

"Damn... Didn't think this bastard could run so fast." Ramuh thought while he was getting tired of running. He had equipped some materia, but fire isn't very affective against Iron Giant's.

"Huff... huff... come on, give... it up ... already." He didn't think he could run much further. Don't forget to buy some lightning materia, they said. Don't forget to buy some potions... If they'd given me the bloody things, I wouldn't be running for my life now. He thought to himself.

He looked at the fire materia in his hand and sighted. It wouldn't do him any good now.

"Piss off will you..." He yelled and threw the materia at the giant.

"O shit... Now that was smart."

He reached a river and knew he was almost at his destination.

He glimpsed over his shoulder to see where the Iron Giant was.

Suddenly he tripped over something.

"Whoa..." He landed with his face in some mud. "Ptthh, ptthh... o now isn't this just great!" He quickly turned around, the giant stood right in front of him.

"Can't we friends... Erm… I can read and write." The giant raised its sword above its head. " Erm... I guess not."

Ramuh raised his hands to deflect the blow. He knew it wouldn't save him but he couldn't just sit there and do nothing.

He closed his eyes and waited for the blow.

Nothing happened.

Ramuh slowly opened one eye. The Giant was standing still, it was looking at something.

"Now what is more interesting than me at this moment." Ramuh asked. "Not that I mind though, don't get me wrong."

He slowly stood up. "Well it was fun, but I'm going now."

The giant focused on Ramuh again. Its blade came sizzling down trough the air.

Ramuh just barely evaded it, and fell to the ground.

"Stay down, I'll handle this one." A voice said.

Ramuh heard a gunshot and the giant backed away.

A shadow flew over Ramuh and started hitting the Iron Giant.

"What the...?" Ramuh muttered. The giant was fighting something but it moved so fast, that it couldn't hit it.

Ramuh tried to see who was saving him, but he was so fast that all Ramuh could see was a blur.

"Go to the river." The voice said. "You'll be safer there."

Ramuh crawled to the river and turned around.

The giant was still trying to hit the man but couldn't hit its target.

The man made a back flip and landed next to Ramuh.

"Okay playing time is over." He used something; Ramuh couldn't see exactly what.

A bold of lightning hit the giant, sending it flying for a couple of feet.

The Iron Giant landed headfirst and didn't move anymore.

"Whoa... That must have been at least a level three lightning spell!" Ramuh screamed, totally amazed. "I never have seen anyone use such power."

He turned his head to look at his savoir. He was wearing a long scarlet cape, and his face was hidden behind a scarf. Ramuh backed away. "You're not going to kill **me** now, are you?"

The man walked away. "Now why would I want to do that?"

"O, I don't know... I thought it was what you're kind does."

"...My kind?"

"Yeah you know... Bandits, robbers." Ramuh shrugged. "I thought you was one, with the mask and all." He felt a bit embarrassed. "I'm sorry... O, by the way I'm Ramuh Saikrom, thank you for saving me."

The man didn't stop walking.

"Wait I'm going to Kalm." He started to run to catch up. "Can't we travel together mister..."

The man stopped walking. "Valentine. My name is Vincent Valentine."

"Well Vincent, nice to meet you. Wait a minute… Valentine, Valentine…" Ramuh rummaged trough his backpack. "Ah, here it is… Mister Valentine, you are hereby invited to the coming of age ritual of Nanaki." Ramuh handed over an invitation. "An invitation from Nanaki… o you mean Red."

"Red, Red… yes I believe some people call him that, not us from Cosmo though." Vincent didn't say anything and started walking again. "Yes... Well... This is going to be fun." Ramuh mumbled.

Tifa was lying in bed, she was dreaming.

_She was in a dark place, nothing but darkness surrounded her._

_She tried to move, but it was as if the darkness was solid._

_Tifa began to panic, where am I? she thought._

_Then in the distance, a small dot of light began to shine._

_The dot grew bigger and took the shape of a human._

_The human was a man dressed in what seemed to be army clothes._

_On his left shoulder there was a metal shoulder-pad, and he had a big belt around his waist. On his back he carried a huge sword._

_The man's hair was kind of spiky and was blond._

_Some locks were hanging in front of his closed eyes._

_"Cloud!" Tifa cried out, but she got no reaction._

_"Cloud, it's me Tifa!" His eyes slowly opened, he had blue eyes and they had a distinct glow in them._

_"O, Cloud how I've missed you." His eyes closed and he started to fade._

_"No, why! Why are you leaving me?" Tifa tried to get to him but still couldn't move._

_"No Cloud, come back. I can't live without you!"_

_Cloud totally faded. Tifa was left alone in the darkness again._

_Then she heard Cloud's voice. "I'll come back, Tifa. When you're in trouble and need to be saved, I'll come back._

_Suddenly a bright light blinded Tifa._

_When her eyes adjusted to the light, she could see that she was standing in a garden. She started to feel calmer; the sound of a little creek set her mind to ease._

_A cool wind blew through her hair, when it passed her ears she could hear it whisper; "I promise."_

She smiled in her sleep, knowing Cloud will be back soon.

It was still early in the morning, when Ramuh woke up with a shock.

He heard something outside the tent.

"Who… who is there?"

"...... You're awake, finally."

Ramuh crawled out the tent. He saw that Vincent was collecting their equipment.

"How long did I sleep? With all that noise here, I thought I couldn't sleep but...

I guess I was wrong." Ramuh stretched out and walked towards a waterfall.

"This place sure is pretty, where I'm from we don't see so many different shades of green."

He washed his face, the water felt nice and fresh.

He turned his head to look at Vincent. Ramuh saw that he begun to pack the tent. "You don't talk much, now do you?" Ramuh said when he started to walk towards Vincent. "......."

"Okay, I'll stop yapping now, it's just that I didn't have no one to talk to…. until now that is."

Vincent looked at Ramuh. "I noticed that. You told me you're headed to Kalm."

He pointed at a city in the distance.

"If we leave now, we'd be able to reach it by noon."

Ramuh quickly got his stuff together and began to walk towards the city.

"Finally, I can't wait to sleep in a decent bed."

Vincent walked besides him.

"What's you're business there any way?"

"Remember the invitation I gave you? I got a couple more to deliver in Kalm."

"More invitations? Seems Red invited us all. O, Ramuh... I wanted to give you this."

Vincent handed Ramuh something.

"Thanks... I always wanted something like this…Erm what is it?'

"It's a pair of running shoes, it'll increase you're speed. I thought you could use it."

"Well, thank you."

Ramuh equipped the shoes, and started running to give them a try.

"Don't overdo it."

Vincent shook his head, his traveling companion acted as a child sometimes.

"Don't worry, I'll save my strength for other things."

They walked further without talking.

Tifa woke up, still a bit sleepy. She when down and made herself some breakfast. She was planning to go shopping today. So she went up and took a shower. I wonder when they'll come back? She thought, when she walked down the stairs.

Tifa walked to the backdoor of her house, when she heard a knock on the front door. I wonder who that could be? She didn't expect anybody today.

There was another knock, Tifa rushed to the door, nearly tripped over a lose piece of carpet but managed to stay on her feet. "I got to get that fixed."

She arrived at the door, hesitated shortly and the opened the door. "Hiya Tif, we're back, it started to rain and it wouldn't stop." Barret was standing there with Marlene sitting on his shoulder. "Barret, why didn't you call? I could have prepared something for you." Tifa looked over his shoulder. "Isn't Cloud with you? You didn't fight, did you?" Barret grinned. "No, not this time. Can't we come in? Standin' here all day won't do us any good." Tifa let Barret pass and closed the door after looking out once more. Barret let Marlene climb off his shoulder and sat down. Tifa sat down next to Marlene. "Did you enjoy your trip?"

Marlene smiled. "Yaeh, papa fell in the river when he wanted to get some water and Cloud showed me how I can catch fish and they couldn't set up the tent. You should have seen it, it was so funny." Marlene kept talking on and on. Tifa couldn't help herself and started to laugh. "It wasn't my fault, how should I know that I couldn't use those leafs as toilet paper." Tifa could imagine the look on Barret's face when the poison of the leafs started to work. 

Suddenly they heard a ruckus outside. It sounded as if somebody was fighting.

"What the… what's goin' on out there?" Barret jumped up and ran to the door.

He opened it and saw Cloud fighting with a man. The man was dressed in the same clothes as Cloud, except for the color, it was black, and the long coat he was wearing.

Cloud was having a hard time deflecting his blows and couldn't find an opening for a counter attack. "**Leave his spikey ass alone, you jackass!**" Barret shouted as he took aim at the man. "Not today little one." A huge man, dressed in a black SOLDIERS uniform, grabbed Barret's arm and threw him across the street. "**Cloud!**" Tifa jumped out her house, kicking the man who just attacked Barret. "Humph… not bad woman, but not good enough."

Cloud saw that Tifa was in danger and lowered his defense to cast Ice. It hit the huge man hard, making him fall in a pile of garbidge.

Tifa was safe for a while but the man attacking Cloud got the opening he was looking for. He hit Cloud with the back of his sword, causing Cloud to lose consensus. Barret was running towards the fight again, when a couple of soldiers blocked his path. "**Outta my way!**" He started shooting them but it didn't seem effective. "Need a hand?" Vincent said as he knocked down two soldiers.

"Hey, you won't hear me complain." Tifa ran towards Cloud, when she was pulled back. "Hey missy, let Valerius alone with his prey!" Tifa turned around, kicking backwards. She missed and was lifted of the ground. "Kane let's go. We've got what we wanted." Valerius shouted when he threw Cloud on his shoulder.

Barret and Vincent were still fighting on the other side of the street. Kane threw Tifa towards them and than took off. The remaining soldiers flee as soon as the men left. Barret and Vincent where puffing, it has been a while since they had to put up such a fight. "Damn, what was that 'bout?"

"**They've got Cloud!**" Tifa screamed out. "They knocked him unconscious and left."

"Let's go get them, I won't let them get away with that." Barret wanted to start running but Vincent stopped him. "Let's get our gear first."

Tifa knotted, "It won't do us any good to get slaughtered again."

Barret raised his hands in fury, "**Wrrraaaahhh!**" he started to fire his gun-arm in a blind rage.

"Barret, calm down. There are innocent bystanders here!"

Barret started to get calmer but was still pissed.

Meanwhile in another part of Kalm, Ramuh was looking for a place called 'The Missing Score'.

I'm almost there now, he thought. Just deliver this letter, buy a chocobo and go home.

The streets of Kalm were very crowded; Ramuh didn't know where to look.

There was so much to see. A bunch of children were rope jumping, some men were unloading a cart, a lot of people were just walking up and down the streets.

"Watch where you're going, mate."

"Get out you bum."

"Come on, move it will ya."

"Twenty one, twenty two, twenty..."

"Oy, getta move on will ya, yer blockin' my path. Aye I mean ya, ya moron. Standin' in the way, go on... shu shu."

Ramuh quickly walked to the nearest ally.

"My god. I didn't expect it would be such a lively place."

His hometown was a lot smaller and quieter than this place was.

The chaos surrounding him made him dazzle.

"Fhew... Okay, let's do this and get the hell out of here."

Ramuh looked around the corner to see if someone out there could help him.

**"Whoa, look out below!"**

Ramuh looked up; a big wooden crate came zooming down.

He quickly jumped back, flying several feet until he hit a wall.

"Ooof… What now?"

Ramuh looked wary, he had no idea what just happened.

"Are you alwright?"

"Euh… I guess I am. Now why did I start to fly?"

"What are you twalking abwout?"

"I'm talking about… wait a minute… am I starting to talk to myself now?"

"I dunno… guess you twalking to me."

Ramuh looked around him.

"Why is it so dark here?"

"Maybe you should twake that bwucket off you head."

Ramuh moved his hands up, took hold of a bucket and removed it from his head.

"Yes… now there's light again… little voice in my head… were are you now?"

"I'm here, you is a stwrange man."

Ramuh looked down and saw he was hanging several feet above the ground.

The second thing he saw was that he had been talking to a little girl.

"Pfew… I thought I was loosing it… **whoa… help get me down**."

"You wait here, mister. I'll get my daddy."

The little girl ran trough an open door.

"Wait don't leave me hanging here!"

Ramuh sighed.

Now how do I get down. He thought. It's a long drop down.

He heard a noise coming from the place the girl had gone.

He listened more closely; it were voices.

"So someone got tangled in our ropes, well let's get him down."

Good, Ramuh thought, someone's going to get me down.

"Okay, cut the ropes with this knife."

Cut the ropes?

A man walked through the door.

"I'll get you down in a jiffy."

"No, don't cut the… whoa…"

Ramuh hit the ground with a bang. He slowly got up, checking if all of his body parts where in place and working.

"You alright?"

"Yes… not thanks to you I must add."

Ramuh looked at a man; who was big enough to take on three of the Iron Giants he'd encountered earlier.

"But then again… if you didn't do anything, I would still be up there."

He muttered whilst thinking; But being up there, kept me safe from a hard an up close encounter with the ground, you oath.

"Looks like you're not from 'round these parts. Are you looking for work?"

"No, I am not. I already have a job."

Ramuh searched his pockets and showed them a letter.

"Maybe you can help me, I'm looking for a place called…"

He tried to find the address on the letter.

"A place called 'The Missing Store'"

"Isn't it 'The Missing Score'?"

"What? …Yes you're right, that's the one."

Ramuh started to feel reassured; he task was nearly completed.

"So you know where I can find it?"

"Yes, it's very easy, just walk out this ally, turn left, then strait ahead until you reach a market. At the market turn right, then take the fourth street at you're left, keep going strait ahead. Then you'll reach a."

"Please stop, I already got lost at going out this ally."

The man started to grin.

"Wait, I'll walk you there."

Ramuh looked at the man again. He was enormous. Ramuh could see all the people on the streets making way to let them pass.

"Yes… that'll be a laugh."

"What?"

"No, nothing."

The men walked out the ally and began to walk to "The Missing Score".

Tifa and friends where running past the statue. "There it is, we'll get our gear and find Cloud!" Tifa shouted.

They stopped at the door and heard voices inside the pub, which was strange because the bar wouldn't be open until five. Barret pushed Tifa away from the door. "Outta my way, Tif. If there are more inside here, their mine!"

Barret barged trough the door, ready for anything. Nothing happened, then a voice said. "Barret… If you wanted a drink you could have walked in like normal people do."

The voices they had heard outside where dart and an odd looking man.

The man was dressed in a blue robe, with a leather bag hanging around his neck.

He was about 170 cm tall, had blue eyes and blond hair. It was a skinny guy, he reminded Barret of a weasel.

"Who the hell…" Barret started, the man jumped up and hid behind the bar.

"Calm down, he was looking for you guys." Dart said, trying to calm Barret down.

"**For us! Then he's one of them!**" Barret shouted, he stormed towards the bar and pulled the over the bar.

Tifa and Vincent where standing in the doorway, looking at Barret's rampage.

When Vincent saw the man, he recognized him and ran towards Barret.

"Barret… Would you be kind enough to put him down… gently?" Vincent asked when he took hold of Barret's gun-arm.

Barret looked at the weasel-man, at Vincent and back at the weasel-man.

"Friend of yours?" He asked a bit confused.

"Not really… we met on the road here… seems he's got a habit for getting in trouble." Then Vincent remembered the invitation he had. "Plus he's a messenger from Cosmo Canyon."

"Cosmo… Oh ya mean… What does he want?"

"Something to do with a ritual."

"So…"

"He invited us to come."

Barret was tapped on the shoulder.

"Erm… do you mind letting me down, then you can continue your little chat."

Barret looked at the man he still had in his hand. Barret shrugged and let the man go. "Ain't got time for this anyway." Barret looked at Tifa. "Let's get our stuff and get going." He disappeared into the backroom.

"So you got a message from Red?" Tifa asked the man.

The man rummaged in his bag, took out three invitations and handed them over to Tifa.

"Could you give… erm… the not so nice person, his invitation?" He asked when he started to move towards the door. Vincent saw what he was planning.

"Going so soon, Ramuh?" He asked.

"Well… erm… got something… erm… bye!" Ramuh disappeared in an instant.

"Wow, he's fast." Tifa said as the dust shaped Ramuh started to disappear.

"Must be the running shoes I gave him."

"Alright… let's kick some, whatshouldicallit, ass." Barret bellowed as he re-entered to bar.

He gave Tifa and Vincent they're equipment and walked out the door.

"Where did the weasel go?" He mumbled as he disappeared outside.

"Dart, could you take care of the bar?" Tifa asked.

"Sure, don't know what's going on though."

Vincent was ready with equipping himself.

"We'll tell you all about it… later."

He grabbed Tifa's arm and pulled her out with him.

Tifa shouted some last word at Dart, "I'll call you later, take care."

Then they where gone and left Dart standing alone.

Now that was a lot of commotion, He thought. And it isn't happy hour yet.

He shrugged; it wasn't the first time something strange as this had happened.


	2. Chapter two

Tifa, Barret and Vincent where walking for a few days now

Chapter two New friends, new enemies.

"Is this him?"

"Yes… he didn't put up much of a fight though. I expected more from him."

"And… his friends?"

"They'll be eliminated soon."

"By you're Iron Giants, right."

"You shouldn't worry about that… He's waking up, I'm gone."

"Okay… ah Cloud. I heard so many things about you."

Cloud slowly opened his eyes. He tried to move his arms; they were tied to the metal bed he was laying on. Cloud glared at the man that stood next to his bed.

"Now, now… there's no need to become hostile, you'll get of that bed soon enough."

The man reached out for an injection needle. "I'm sorry, but you have to sleep for some more time."

Cloud tried to get away but couldn't; the ropes were too tight.

He felt the needle entering his arm; a hot fluid was injected. Cloud's eyes were getting heavy, his arms and legs felt numb.

"Who are you...?" Cloud's voice slowly faded as he fell asleep again. "Consider me as a… a friend."

The man lowered Cloud in a glass cylinder. Another cylinder stood right next to it. Various pipes and cables connected the cylinders. The man walked to a computer and sighed. What he was supposed to do wasn't something he wanted to do; he didn't become a scientist for this purpose.

He sighed again and mumbled; "C'mon Katana let's do this." He entered the password and opened the main screen.

He checked Cloud vital signs and started the program. He watched the process starting and walked out the room. 

"You did it?" Kane was waiting for him outside the door. "Ramuell… I asked did you do it?" The scientist sighed. "Yes Kane… I did what I was ordered to do." "Okay than Ramuell, I'll see you later." Kane turned and walked towards the bridge. Ramuell shook his head and went to his room.

Tifa, Barret and Vincent where walking for a few days now. No one knew which way to go. All they knew was that someone had abducted Cloud and they where going to get him back. They where halfway between Kalm and the mythril mines.

"We must get a chocobo." Vincent said.

"Why? We can cross the swamp by foot." Tifa replied.

"Yeah, but with a chocobo it'll go faster."

Tifa shrugged, she knew Vincent was right but she didn't want to waste any time now. The men who'd captured Cloud had a head start, and they didn't even know which way to go. Tifa looked at Barret; he hadn't spoken since they left Kalm.

"You worried about Marlene?" She asked him.

"No… well a little, but I know she's in good hands with Elmyra. I'm more worried 'bout us." 

"About us? Why?"

"Well… Those guys back there… didn't seem to have any trouble with us. They played with us and when they got bored, they threw us away."

They walked further, thinking about the men they eventually will face. Tifa shivered by the thought Cloud was in their hands. They were falling behind Vincent, whom noticed something in the distance.

"Tifa, Barret… Can you see that?" Barret stopped walking and tried to see what Vincent was looking at.

"Wait… do you hear that?" Tifa was looking at the horizon and saw a Midgar Zolom Circling around a dead tree stump. When they looked closer they could see a man sitting in the tree.

Vincent sighed; "…Looks like our messenger boy."

Barret grinned and started to walk towards the Zolom. "Hey, eat this." He fired his gun-arm; the Zolom raised itself to full height, ready to attack. Tifa jumped forward and used a sleepel spell.

"Barret! …O never mind." She turned to Ramuh; he hadn't even noticed them, he still hold on to the branch as if his life depended on it.

"Someone must hate me, why do I have to be the one that always attracts this kind of trouble?"

Vincent climbed up and tapped him on the back. "Whoa… who gooooeeees…" Ramuh had loosened his grip on the branch, and fell face first in the mud.

"You awright?" Barret helped him back on his feet.

"Yes thank whoa…" Ramuh saw Barret's face and stumbled backwards. Tifa giggled as she walked to Ramuh.

"Don't be afraid, we mean you no harm. Climbing in a tree isn't the best way to get rid of monsters tough, you where lucky we came along."

Ramuh's face turned red as he muttered a thank you. He cleared his throat; "Erm… Can I Erm… Well you know…"

Vincent nodded. "… Yes, you can travel with us."

"Hey hold on a sec." Barret wasn't too happy with the thought of him joining them.

"Barret, it's only until we reach Cosmo Canyon." Tifa hushed him.

"O awright then…"

"O jolly good, well then, lets get a move on." Ramuh leaded the way.

"Ramuh?"

"Yes?"

"The other way."

Ramuh stopped and looked around him. "O… okay, this way then." And he was off again. Barret grabbed Tifa by the arm.

"You sure 'bout this?"

"Look at him, I don't think he'll survive without us and we were heading there anyway."

"Guess you right."

They followed Ramuh, who was talking loudly to Vincent.

A teenage boy entered the room Cloud was in. He was looking for something or someone. He rummaged through some of the documents that where spread all over the office-desk.

"What are you doing dad?"

The boy asked himself. He walked to the cylinders in the back of the room. "What's this?"

He tried to look inside one of them; it was filled with a green fluid. The boy didn't know what it was his father was doing or what these cylinders were.

"O… I recognize this."

He picked up a purple materia. It looked different from any materia he'd ever seen.

'Why does he have materia here?" He wondered. "Huh?"

The boy quickly turned; he'd heard a thud coming from behind. Nothing was there.

"I could have sworn…"

He heard another thud; it was coming from the cylinders.

"What the?"

There was another thud, and another, and another. Suddenly the glass shattered, spilling the green fluid over the boy.

"Cough, cough… What happened?"

Suddenly a siren begun to howl and the door shut with a loud smack.

"Hey lemme out of here!"

The boy ran to the door and started banging on it. He stopped when he heard a moan behind him. The boy turned slowly; he saw a man lying on the floor.

"Nice hair… you alright?"

The man didn't answer; all he did was moan.

"Alright, I'm in trouble now. If my dad finds out…" He slowly moved towards the man.

Who am I? What am I? …I'm Cloud… from Nibelheim, I am Cloud!

The man stood up, shacking his head. When Cloud looked up he saw a young man, approximately 20 years. His hair was blond with the exception of some locks of his hair, they where black.

"Well you're hair's nice too." Cloud looked around him; he was still in the room he first woke up. He turned and saw the other cylinder was still in one piece. He tried to look inside but couldn't see anything. He kicked the cylinder; it fell down, shattered and spilled it's containing over the floor.

"O… For a minute I thought I was… never mind." Cloud turned to the boy, who was staring at him.

"I'm Cloud. Could you tell me where I am?" The boy didn't say anything; he just stood there staring. Cloud moved a bit closer to him.

"I asked if you could tell me where I am… please?"

The boy screamed; "In deep shit, haven't you got a clue how much that stuff costs? And you just kick it to smithereens! Are you insane!"

Cloud saw the anger on his face but there was something else; it was fear. He slowly answered; "No not insane, abducted is more what I'll call it." The boy's yaw fell open.

"My father…" A loud explosion echoed through the room. "What the…!?"

"The building is under attack, do you know a way out?" Cloud asked.

"No… you see…" A second explosion ripped the floor away under their feet, causing them to plunge them into the ocean.

Kane ran to the bridge, where he found Valerius.

"What's going on?" He asked bewildered.

"It seems one WEAPON had survived, it's attacking us now." Valerius was very calm, like a SOLDIER supposed to be in this situation.

"We're ready to fire the support artillery, sir." A private informed them.

"Okay captain, do what you must do, if it gets out of control… I'll be in my quarters." Valerius left the bridge.

"Always trying to be cool." Kane loathed that part of his partner.

"Fire at will!" The captain ordered.

The guns of the gunship fired white-hot laser-flames. Rocket-launchers fired their projectiles towards their target. The main-artillery warmed up for its fatal shot. OMEGA WEAPON took several hits head on; it reacted by firing its plasma-lasers. The gunship got damaged heavily.

"Main-artillery ready for firing, sir."

"FIRE."

The main-artillery fired its deadly mako-laser; it hit OMEGA dead-on.

It got wounded badly. The gunship continued to fire its support-artillery. OMEGA dove under the waves.

"It's disappeared, sir"

"Keep looking, it must be out there!"

Kane could breath normally now; he was a strong warrior but standing face to face with such a monster, even he feared for his life.

"All seems clear."

"Proceed at previous course." The captain sighed, he was glad to be alive. "Damage report."

"Decks one and two are badly damaged, sir."

"Casualties."

"Sick-bay reports…" The door closed with a whoosh behind Kane. He walked trough the hall towards Valerius quarters. On the way there he passed the lab where Cloud was.

"Kane, come help me." Kane saw Ramuell trying to open the lab doors.

"Why should I?"

"I believe the lab was damaged in the attack, I'm trying to get in and make sure nothing happened to our experiment."

"You help him Kane."

"Valerius?"

"Just do it, the commander will be most unpleased if something happened to our test-subject."

Kane growled; he didn't want to displease his commander.

"Get out o' my way."

Ramuell quickly made way; he knew better than standing in any SOLDIER'S way and especially in Kane's way.

Kane grabbed hold of the handle with both hands and gave it a pull; nothing. He tried again; the door moved an inch.

"Aaarg… damn door!" Kane let go and grabbed his axe from his back.

"Doc. Katana, please stand back." Valerius warned Ramuell.

Kane started whacking on the door. The door couldn't withstand this onslaught for long and plunged into the depths.

"The floor… it's gone!" Kane scratched his head. "Seems we got some bad news for the commander."

"Daddy, daddy…" Ramuell turned his head.

"Jinn… Jinn's missing!" Ramuell ran to his 17-year-old daughter.

"What do you mean missing?" He asked her.

"He went to see you just before the attack and didn't return."

Ramuell looked at the ruined lab with a panicking look on his face. "June, did he say where he went?"

June saw the remains of her father's lab. "…He said…in you're lab." She started to cry.

"Hmm looks like it's getting a bit problematic." Valerius turned and walked towards the bridge. Kane looked puzzled then he followed Valerius. They left father and daughter mourning for they're lost son and brother.

"If he doesn't stop, I'll kill him."

"I have to agree with Barret, it's getting annoying." Barret and Vincent couldn't stand the humming Ramuh was doing.

"Well at least he stopped singing." Tifa said with a slight trace of irritation in her voice.

Ramuh didn't notice that his companions didn't enjoy his vocal skills. He raised his voice again and started singing; "Tonight I'm gonna have myself a real good time. I feel alihihive and the world turn it inside out Yeah I'm floating around on ecstasy so don't stop me now, I'm havin' a good time, don't stop me 'couse I'm having a good time I'm having ghhlll…"

"Shut ya mouth." Barret had jumped Ramuh and was chocking him. "Erm…Barret?"

"Not now Tif!"

"Barret!"

"WHAT?"

"We have company." Barret looked up to see whom Tifa was talking about.

"The hell…"

Only ten feet away stood five Iron Giants, ready to attack.

"Giants… here?"

"No time to think they're coming!"

Three of them come storming towards them, the other two moved to attack them from both sides. Vincent noticed this and warned the others. Tifa used a thunder spell on the oncoming three; it didn't seem effective.

"Look out!"

Barret shot one of them; it fell down and stayed there for two seconds, then it got up and stormed at them again.

Vincent ran in the direction of one of the Giants. He took aim and fired a bullet directly in it's head. The Giant stopped and fell down with a thud; it didn't move anymore.

The other Giants saw this happen and stopped running. They seem to find a weak spot in their opponent's defence.

"What are they waiting for?" Barret looked puzzled. "I never seen monsters do that!"

"Look out here they come again!"

Vincent couldn't evade the sword of the first one; the second Giant hit him straight on. Vincent fell to the earth and didn't move anymore.

**"Vincent!" **Tifa stormed to him, giving him a phoenix down.

Barret saw what happened and fired at the Giants in fury; two of them fell in the bullet-shower. The remaining two gathered five feet away from their fallen comrades.

"WE WILL BE BACK."

One of them said and they vanished in thin air.

"Vincent you awright?" Barret kneeled next to Tifa and Vincent.

"…I'm fine."

Tifa looked puzzled. "What is going on here? First someone takes Cloud and now we're dealing with intelligent Giants?"

Vincent got up and glanced around him. "…Where's Ramuh?"

They all looked around now but couldn't see him.

"Seems weasel-boy disappeared when the fight started."

"I did not!"

They heard his voice but couldn't see him.

"And I say, I am disappointed in you Barret, thinking I have left you."

Barret felt a bit ashamed.

"Where are ya… Ramuh?"

"So it's not weasel-boy anymore, is it."

"Sorry."

"What?"

"I said…"

"That's enough, Ramuh where are you!"

"Erm… I'm underneath this Giant, Tifa."

"Which one?"

"How should I know which one, I'm one the wrong side so I can't give an accurate description."

Vincent couldn't help himself and chuckled; Ramuh really did have the ability to get in the worst position in each incident.

Tifa noticed that Vincent chuckled and smiled; this Ramuh guy helped him loosen up.

"I see his feet." Barret hadn't noticed what Vincent just did and walked towards the Giant where Ramuh was under.

"C'mon lets get him out of there and get going again." They pulled the Giant from Ramuh.

"Hi… how are you doing? I'm Ramuh you're guide for today, well follow me and I'll show you how a Iron Giant looks like from underneath."

Tifa chuckled. "You're a strange one, you know."

Ramuh straitened his robe. "Yes, some people told me that secret a long time ago." He looked at Barret and massaged his throat. "I recon you don't want me to sing no more."

Barret nodded.

"Okay, lets get going then."Ramuh started walking and looked over his shoulder.

"He's right, we can stand here thinking about what happened or… find out where Cloud could be." Vincent followed Ramuh's footsteps.

"Let's go, Tif."Barret shrugged, nodded at Tifa and they followed Ramuh and Vincent.

Cloud woke up on a beach. He carefully stood up and tried to remember what had happened. He faint fully remembered being inside a tank or something, than a lot of water and finally waking up here.

"You okay?"

Cloud looked around him; there was a boy standing on the beach.

"Fine I guess…" Cloud looked puzzled, there was something familiar about the boy.

"Looks like we washed ashore here… wherever here is." The boy walked towards Cloud. "You sure you alright? You don't look so good."

Cloud tried to say something but fell to the ground. All the sounds around him faded as he sank into darkness. In the darkness he saw a light.

Holy…?

The light shined brighter and brighter.

Aeris… is that… you…?

The light embraced him, providing him a warm, safe place to heal. His thoughts focused again and he remembered what had happened. The light slowly faded and Cloud was standing on the beach again.

"What happened? You where here one moment and then you disappeared, only to reappear again… looking a hell of a lot better than before though."

Cloud looked at the boy and took a battle stance.

"Wait… no need to get aggressive!"

"Get down, now!"

Cloud jumped over the boy, kicking an Iron Giant down.

"Come… we must get out of here! We can't do him anything without weapons or materia!" Cloud ran towards the boy.

"Wait! I've got some materia!" The boy showed him a purple materia.

"What does it do, boy?"

"I don't know… its Jinn!"

"What!?"

"It's not boy…the name is Jinn."

The Giant slowly come closer.

"Okay… here goes!"

Jinn used the materia; a blue light emerged from within Jinn, then the light turned into a flaming red.

"AAAAARRRRGGG…"

Jinn cried out in pain, his body was showered in some sort blue, purple flame. "Throw the materia away!"

Cloud tried to get near Jinn but got thrown away by the flame.

"HELP ME! AAARG…"

Jinn's body fell down, shaking all over.

The Giant was observing this all from a distance.

Jinn's body stopped moving as the flame disappeared.

Cloud crawled towards him. "Jinn…" Cloud checked his pulse; nothing.

"CLOUD! MY MASTER AWAITS YOU." The Iron Giant stormed at Cloud and swung a net towards him. Cloud got entangled in the net, unable to move.

"Let me go!"

"UNABLE TO COMPLY… YOUR PRESENCE IS NEEDED IN THE CITADEL." The Giant glanced at Jinn once and started walking.

"You're master? The citadel? What are you talking about?" The Giant didn't react. Cloud tried to move but the net was too tight and the mazes to narrow.

I must find a way to… Before Cloud could finish his thoughts he and the Giant got slammed against the ground.

"Cloud, stay there… I'll take care of this one!"

Someone grabbed hold of the Giant and started spinning it in the air.

"Let's see if can fly."

The Giant got thrown through the air and with a big splash fell into the ocean. "Guess it can't. Wait I'll get you out of that." The net got ripped in two.

"Jinn… What happened to you?"

Jinn grinned. "I don't know… but I like it."

Cloud studied Jinn's face; his eyes were glowing. And his hair; it had turned in a purple colour. 

"I think it has something to do with my father's experiments."

Cloud frowned; he had more than enough of experiments. "Right… more experiments."

Jinn froze for a second. "Wait, that giant talked, didn't it?"

"Yes, what's wrong?"

"On the C1R5A we had such giant's. They are part of master Valerius's defense squad."

"You mean aboard the ship we where on?"

"Yes… father!" Jinn started running.

"Where are you going?" Cloud shouted when he started running too.

"I need to find out if my father and sister survived the attack!" Jinn shouted back. Cloud caught up with Jinn.

"Where are you going then?"

Jinn stopped and had a blank expression on his face. "I…I don't know." He sighed and stared over the plains they where on. "I don't even know where we are."

Cloud took his cocky stand and frowned. "Hmm, what where you doing on the ship anyway?"

"Why, what does it matter."

Cloud closed his eyes. "It does to me, I was abducted and brought there against my will, you know. So I'm wondering what you where doing there."

Jinn frowned and sighed. "Would you believe me if I said that I don't know why I was there?"

"…No."

"I thought so… all I know is that SOLDIER needed my fathers help with something. My sister and me went with him 'couse we didn't want to be alone in Icicle inn. That's all I know and that's why I was onboard." Jinn took the same stance as Cloud.

Cloud nodded and started walking again.

"Wait, where are you going?"

Cloud stopped and waved a hand through the air. "To find my friends."

Jinn looked behind him once and than made up his mind. "I'm coming with you." Cloud stopped and shrugged. "Do as you want."

They moved towards a hillside.

"Do you know where we could be?" Jinn sat down on a rock.

"Gongaga."

"What?"

"We're near Gongaga."

"A yes…what's Gongaga."

"An small village that was destroyed be an exploding Mako-reactor."

Jinn looked puzzled. "They did restore it, didn't they? Shinra I mean."

Cloud stared in the distance. "No… They left the village in ruins."

Jinn jumped up. "They'll never do something like that, Shinra would never leave a village in turmoil."

Cloud walked in the direction of the village. "Come and find out."


	3. Chapter three

Chapter three

Chapter three The gathering.

Music was coming from the forest in the distance. There where a lot of travelers on the road, Cloud couldn't remember this place to be so lively.

"A small, remote village destroyed by an exploding Mako-reactor eh?"

Jinn gave Cloud a wicked smile. "Guess Shinra did come and made things right."

Cloud ignored him, something wasn't right here. There where to much people going to Gongaga, there was nothing there. A kart pulled by a chocobo passed by them. Cloud increased his pace and made the kart stop.

"Can you tell me why you're going to Gongaga?" He asked the driver.

"Yer not fr'm round these parts, are ya lad? D'nt yer 'eard 'bout the c'meback that there village h'd made?" The man shrugged and took another hit from his cigarette. "Nev'r mind lad, ya wanna know why I go th're? Why don't ya go th're an' see f'r yers'lf." He gave Cloud a friendly grin and rode away.

"Did you 'understand' what he just said?" Jinn had a dim expression on his face. "No not really, come lets go and see for ourselves."

They walked further in the forest. The music was getting louder and louder. In the distance they could see the remains of the reactor.

"Is that…?" Jinn voice trembled a little.

"Yes…" Cloud didn't want to say much; Jinn would have to see for himself what Shinra had done to this village.

They reached the village gate; there was a lot of traffic leaving and entering the village.

"Doesn't seem to be a small ruined village to me. More like an up and thriving town." Jinn said as he looked at the chaos at the gates. Cloud was confused; the last time he'd been here was to tell Zack's parents what had happened to him, and the village was in ruins then. Cloud looked through the masses to find out where he should go. That's when he saw a familiar face.

"You wait here, I'll be right back." Cloud mixed in the crowd and it wasn't long before Jinn lost sight of him.

"Hmph… wait here, who does he think he is.' Jinn walked towards the gates. A lot of merchants, carrying all kinds of goods entered and left the town.

"Hey Jinn, Jinn over here!" Jinn looked around him; Cloud was standing next to a red headed man.

"Jinn this is Johnny, Johnny Jinn. Johnny used to live in the same town as me. He was just about to tell me what was going on here."

The man called Johnny cleared his throat and started talking; it sounded to Jinn as if he didn't want to but had no choice.

"Like I was saying; a little while ago a man opened a new shop here. Nobody knew where he came from or why he decided to settle here. Anyway he did and his weapons are fantastic. The word traveled fast and before the people of this town knew, people from all over the world came here to buy the weapons. After the master-smith leaved, to who knows where, some of them stayed here and in no time the town grew bigger and bigger."

Jinn looked around him. "So all these people come here to buy weapons?"

Johnny sighed. "No… they come here for whatever they need. See… if you want something, this is the place to get it."

Cloud frowned. "So… we need new equipment, you think we can get it here?" "Think?? I know you can get it… if you have the Gil for it that is."

Jinn looked at Cloud. "And that's something we don't have."

Johnny yawned and glazed at Cloud. " If that's all… I'll be on my way then." "Wait, do you know how we can earn enough Gil." Johnny thought about that for a moment and then gave Cloud a wicked smile. "You could enter in the oncoming tournament, if you have 1000 Gil that is."

Cloud sighed. "You know I don't have any Gil."

"Well… I could pay you're entering fee… for a small repayment when you win." Jinn grabbed hold of his jacket. **"What do you mean a small repayment!"**

"O, I was thinking 55% of you're winnings." Jinn lifted him from the ground. "Erm… 45% would do just fine I guess."

"Okay sign us in, Jinn let's look around first." Cloud nodded at Jinn and walked trough the gate. Jinn gave Johnny a last glare and followed Cloud into the town. "Shees… I guess I'll better get a move on then, little punk." Johnny straitened his clothes and walked towards a big building just a few feet away from the reactor. 

Cloud and Jinn walked trough the village, looking around them. "It doesn't look like a run down village to me."

"You already said that, I don't remember this place to be so… lively."

"Hey… let's check out this store you're friend was talking about." Cloud stopped and took his cocky pose.

"Now where is that shop then?"

Jinn looked around him and a particular store caught his eye. "I think it would be that one!" Cloud looked at the store, looked back at Jinn and back at the store again. "Okay… let's go then."

They walked towards the store and entered. When they came in a little bell run and they heard a man's voice shout from out back; "I'm closed, come back later." Cloud walked up to the counter and knocked on it a couple of times.

"I said I'm closed!" Jinn started to rummage through the weapons displayed in the shop. Cloud knocked on the counter again.

"Cloud, come and take a look at this!" Jinn held up a strange looking sword. Cloud walked over to Jinn and took a close look at the sword.

"It looks like a sword… combined with a…"

"Put that down and leave my store at once!" A tall man stood behind them. "Kids these day… shees."

"Let's go Cloud, this guy won't help us."

"Wait Jinn, I want to know more about this weapon." Cloud raised the sword and looked at the tall man.

"Must I keep repeating myself? The store is closed, and that's final." The man walked Cloud and Jinn to the door and locked it behind them.

Cloud was still holding the sword in his hands.

"Erm… Cloud?"

"Yes?"

"Shouldn't you give that back?" Jinn asked pointing at the sword.

"Do you want to knock on the door and piss him off even more?"

"…"

"I thought so, we'll return it later, okay?"

Jinn nodded and pointed at the tavern. "Could we get something to eat?"

Cloud shrugged, "We don't have any Gil, remember?"

"Well… I have some." Jinn said hesitant.

Cloud raised his hands; he gave up. "So you did have some Gil… and now you tell me?" Cloud marched towards the tavern. "You'll buy me my food then!"

Jinn followed him with a regretful expression on his face.

"Whadda ya mean, there's no more ships leavin' this week?" Barret shouted. "Like I said, this week the ships stay in the harbor, and for that matter it could take months even until one ship sets sail again." "But why?" Tifa asked. "Didn't you hear? There's still a WEAPON out there, it attacked a SOLDIER-gunship just this week." Tifa raised an eyebrow, "Didn't we…?" "Yeah, I thought so too." Batter replied. "So if you please?" Tifa nodded at the sailor and left the room. "Hurmph." Barret left without saying anything.

When they arrived at the bar, where they had decided to meet up, the rest of their party was already there. "…How did it go?" Vincent asked but when he saw their faces he could imagine how it turned out, "Never mind, we couldn't find a ship either." Ramuh threw his hand up in despair; "There's no way we can get across the ocean now." He got up and left the bar. "What's wrong with him?" Barret asked as Ramuh walked out. Tifa shrugged and looked at Vincent, "You've been with him longer than us, do you have any idea?" "…I think he was really thrilled by the thought of going home…" He stood up, "I'm going to check on him." Barret watched him leave and turned to Tifa, "The hell we supposed to do?" "Wait for them, I guess. There's no way we can cross the ocean now." They ordered something to eat and waited for Ramuh and Vincent to return.

"Now how am I supposed to get home? 'This is you're first task, Ramuh, it's not a hard one, deliver the invitations and come back home'. Yeah right, not a hard task my…" Ramuh threw a small rock in the water and watched it skip four times. "I should never accepted this job, it just isn't me. I knew I should have kept it with my books, at least there's an happy ending in them." He threw another rock; this one skipped once before it disappeared beneath the waves.

"Life's been hard on you, son?"

"wha…?" Ramuh turned his head and saw a man, wearing a pilot's uniform, standing behind him. "Yeah… I wanted to go home but…"

"But the ships won't leave harbor, am I right?" The man sat down next to Ramuh.

"Yes, absolutely." Ramuh reached out his hand, "I'm Ramuh."

"Nice to meet you, kid. The name's O'Brien, Dexter O'Brien."

"Yes well… the pleasures all mine, I'm sure." Ramuh let another rock skip.

"Good one, seven times. Can I ask you something, kid?"

"Go ahead, ask what you want."

"Why are you sitting here being depressed?"

"I'm not… well maybe I am but…"

"No buts kid, you wanna go home, don't you?"

"Yes, but like I said…"

"And like I said, no buts kid. You want to go home? Then find a way home."

"That's easy for you to say, you're already home. Me? I have to cross an ocean nobody wants to sail, now there's another sighting of a WEAPON there."

"Well, well. Aren't you fast with presumptions? Who ever said that I was home?"

"Erm…"

"You said you wanted to cross the ocean?"

"Yes."

"And you've asked every sailor in town?"

"Yes." Ramuh rolled his eyes.

"But Junon has more than just a harbor."

Ramuh didn't have any idea what this guy was getting at. He examined the man closer, suddenly he saw it; "You're a pilot!"

O'Brien smiled, "Finally you get it, if no one will sail over the ocean, find someone who'll fly you over."

Ramuh jumped up, "So… you will?"

"If you'd ask me."

"Will you take me across the ocean? Erm… wait it's not just me, I've got three friends with me."

"Then go fetch them, kid. I'll be waiting by the arms shop." O'Brien stood up and with a salute he left.

"Well I'll be…"

"Ramuh, there you are."

"Yes, if I'm not here, then where would I be?"

"…"

"Sorry Vince, it's just that… O never mind, let's get back to Tifa and… the other man traveling with us, I just got us a ride across the ocean." Ramuh threw a small, flat rock and watched it skip twelve times, "Yup, I'm back on track." He mumbled and stood up.

"…So, who'll sail out?" Vincent asked him when they walked towards the bar.

"No one, we're going to fly over."

"You found a…" Vincent was surprised; he'd never thought Ramuh was going to be the one who'll find means of transportation.

"Yup, now come on, he'll be waiting by the arms shop."

"…Which one?"

Ramuh rolled his eyes, "The arms shop, of course!"

Vincent sighed, "You don't know which one, do you?"

"There is only one armor shop in town."

"Yes, one armor shop and two weapon shops, with most people call…"

"Arms shops… Damn… erm, sorry." Ramuh cursed himself; he'd made the same mistake before, only to find out he'd forgotten to learn the lesson out of that time.

"…Doesn't matter, we'll visit them all." Vincent felt a little sorry for Ramuh; he seemed so proud just now.

Valerius was standing in a poorly lit room. The room was 20 feet wide and 60 feet long, on both sides where marble pillars starting from the double door, which he used to enter, and ending behind an enormous office desk. The desk stood on a blood red carpet; it didn't reach to the sides but was stretched over the full length of the room. On the desk stood a computer screen, what was about the only thing in the room that gave off light, and some documents, which were Valerius's reports on the incident aboard the ship. A man was sitting behind the desk and he was completely shrouded in shadows, except his face; the green light from the screen lighted up his left side. The man spoke clearly and slowly; "So the subject has disappeared and there has been no sight from him whatsoever?"

Valerius answered with a trembling voice; "Yes Commander, that's true, there has been no sight from him since the incident."

"And the tests? Did professor Katana complete them?"

"Yes, he did, but as you could read in my report…"

"Yes, yes. I've read you're report. A shame you've lost the results."

Valerius was getting even more uncomfortable than he already was; he didn't like the way this conversation was going. "I couldn't do anything against WEAPON, sir. If we'd…"

"Yes, I know. If you'd seen it coming sooner you could have preparations ready sooner. And for what you could have done against WEAPON? The same as SOLDIER is supposed to do with anything that stands in our way, eliminate it!"

"But sir… against WEAPON… it'll be suicide."

"Yes, for normal people it would, and that's why I needed those results. O yes, before I forget, how is our professor doing?"

Valerius was glad to change the subject and could breath a little better. "Not to good, he is mourning for the lost of his son and isn't in any hurry to get on with his research."

"Then… make sure he'll start again soon."

"How do you intend to do that?"

"Make him a proposition he can't refuse; start working or mourn for the lost of another child."

"…But, sir!"

"That will be all, now go and don't disappoint me more." With that the commander turned out the screen and vanished out of Valerius sight.

When Valerius closed the doors behind him he heard Kane's voice; "How did it go?"

Valerius sighed; "We can be glad he was in a good mood, now let's go. We must find Cloud and get Katana to continue his research."

Kane nodded and growled; "When I get my hands on Cloud, he'll be sorry for ever being born."

"Relax Kane, the commander wants him alive. Huh?" The cell-phone in his pocket was ringing.

"Val? Who can that be?"

Valerius took the phone out of his pocket; "I don't know, but it better be good news." Valerius talked to the person on the other side for a moment and hung up. "Good news, Kane. This was our contact in Gongaga; it seems Cloud is alive and he's there and… the professor's son seems to be alive too."

Kane's eyes glowed up; "OKAY Val, round two… and this time we'll be the winners."

"Kane… we won last time too, you know? We just lost them again, that's all."

Kane pointed at the doors behind him, "Could you go in and tell him that?"

"…"

"Thought so, and Val?"

"Yes?"

"Don't pretend as if you're my boss, 'couse you're not, 'kay?"

"I never do that!" Valerius pretended to be hurt.

"…'Ever, let's go." Kane stormed down the hall. Valerius rolled his eyes and after a 'why me?' he followed him.

"Lady's and gentlemen… proudly we present to you the first ever… ''Thanatos-tournament'".

The crowd cheers and the announcer waits until they settle again; "These twenty brave men will fight in hand to hand combat for the title of 'Century Phoenix' and for the grand prize of 250000 Gil!

There's a ear shattering applause and the announcer continuous; "Let me introduce the first fighters: from Wutai, the ninja-warrior Jade Scarlet! (Another round of applause.) And his opponent: from Icicle Inn, the purple haired Jinn Katana! (The crowd seemed in favour for Jade Scarlet because Jinn got a cold welcome.) And now let the fights begin!"

Cloud was watching how Jinn fought in the arena when he was slapped on the back of his head; "What the…?" He turned to see who had hit him but before he saw whom it was got punched in his stomach.

"I'll see you in the ring!" With that his attacker left.

"What was that all about?" Cloud asked himself whilst getting up.

"Hey kid! You're supposed to do the fighting in the arena, ya know." A big man sat on a bench a few feet away from Cloud. "And if you fight like that in there… boy I'd hate to stand in you're shoes." The man grinned. "The name's Camron, how are ya?"

Cloud stared at him and nodded; "Cloud's the name, did you happen to see who that was?"

Camron pointed at a man wearing a black suit. "That's the one, right there."

Cloud looked at the man and recognised him; "Reno!"

Reno turned and glared at Cloud; "Payback time, Cloud! This time the Turks won't go easy."

Cloud wanted to say something but got hit on the head again.

"…Reno's right, payback time!" Rude walked to Reno and stopped there.

"The Turks… thought you guy's had been fired because of you're failures last year."

"…That's right, and we didn't think we'd ever see you again. But now we're here and you'll pay for humiliating us."

"Yeah, as if…"

The rest of Cloud's words where engulfed by the wild applauding of the audience, it seemed the first fight was over.

"Lady's and gentlemen the first winner is…(drum ruffling.) Jinn Katana! Now for the second fight, formerly of the Turk: Reno! (The audience applauded as if their life depended from it.) And his opponent: Cloud Strife, and I hear he used to be a SOLDIER so… Turks vs. SOLDIER: who'll win? I don't know so let's find out, LET THE BATTLES BEGIN!" (The crowd went wild; two former Shinra factions fighting each other.)

Reno and Cloud where turning in circles: they where both assessing each other's weaknesses. Cloud felt confident in the outcome of this fight, he hadn't been Tifa's sparring partner for nothing. He took a risk by making the first move and got punished for that; Reno predicted his move and countered it by giving a low punch in his stomach. Cloud gasped for breath and cursed himself for being over confident. Reno saw an opening in Cloud's defence and kicked him. Cloud could barely dodge the kick and immediately punched Reno in the face. Reno lost his balance for a moment and that was enough for Cloud to unleash a series of kicks and punches.

"…C'mon Reno, get with it!" Rude was watching the fight from behind the scenes.

Jinn was standing next to Reno and started cheering for Cloud; "Yeah, that's it kick his ass! Oooh… now that's gotta hurt."

"Okay, Reno. Show him what Turks are made of!"

"Hey, shut up you, or I'll show you a thing or two!" Jinn had heard the comments Rude was giving and was getting annoyed by it.

"…You talking to me, little one?" Rude wanted to whack Jinn but a big man grabbed hold of both of them. "No fighting in here, if you want a piece of each other, wait until you get out there, ya hear."

"…" Rude followed the rest of the fight in the arena.

"Hey, let go! Humph… Okay already, can't you see I'm watching a fight!"

Camron smiled and focused his attention back at the fight outside.

Reno was pounding on Cloud, who lay under him. "See, can't mess with the Turks!" Cloud got quite a beating but it was noting compared with what Tifa had given him in the past. He wriggled his shoulders a little further into the dirt, and drew his legs upward; placing his feet around Reno's head. With a swift pull he managed to pull Reno off his chest. In a swift move he kicked Reno against his head and jumped back on his feet. Cloud turned to face Reno again and whilst he turned he kicked Reno back to the ground. "Why… Don't you… stay there… Reno? Don't… you Turks belong … crawling in the dirt?" Reno placed his hands underneath him and threw his feet in Cloud's direction, but Cloud spun around his axis and whacked Reno in the stomach and on his face. The punch broke Reno's nose. Reno got up and glared at Cloud. "Rhaaa…" Reno attacked in fury trying to punch and kick Cloud. Cloud blocked and evaded every punch and kick. "…'Night Reno!" With these words he leaped into the air and floored Reno with a spinning kick in the air. Cloud landed next to Reno, heavily breading but satisfied; this was probably the hardest fight in the competition, except for Rude perhaps.

"And the winner is… Cloud. Give him a big hand people, looks like he needs it! And now our third battle…"

Cloud slowly walked back to the gladiator's room where Jinn was waiting for him.

"Cloud… good one, you showed that Turks who's boss!"

Cloud grinned and sat down, "Yeah, but we haven't won this tournament yet."

Reno stumbled in, glared at Cloud and sat down next to Rude.

"… Reno?"

"Not now, Rude."

Rude nodded and waited for his turn to fight.

"Wow… this is great!" Ramuh pressed his face against the window and was looking at the world passing down him.

"Humph, this ain't nothin' compared to the Highwind!" Barret crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Now that was a way of travelling."

O'Brien sighed, "You're right about that one, my plane is just a bucket of bolds judged against the likes of the Highwind, but it gets the job done." He pointed at a spot in the ocean; "That's the place where WEAPON was last sighted."

A cold shiver went down Ramuh's spine; he'd heard stories about WEAPON and didn't want to face it ever. "…But it's gone now, is it?"

O'Brien shrugged; "Don't know kid, all we can do is hope it won't come back just yet."

"We've fought…oomph." Tifa kicked Barret against his leg, hushing him to be silent.

Ramuh looked outside when he suddenly shouted: **"O no, its WEAPON!" **He pointed at a large shadow underneath the ocean surface.

O'Brien laughed; "That's no WEAPON, it's just a whale!"

Barret thumped Ramuh; "Ya#@&^%*# moron, scarin' the hell outta me!"

Tifa chuckled and whispered; "I'm not scared of WEAPON, euh?"

Barret heard her and growled.

Vincent hadn't spoken the entire trip and stared out the window.

Ramuh noticed this and shouted; **"Vincent, there's an enormous spider on you're arm!"** Vincent didn't react and Ramuh bended over to shout him in the ear but before he got the chance to do so, Vincent turned and glared him in the eyes; "…I wouldn't do that…" Ramuh sat back down and, after one last look at Vincent; he stared at the world outside again.

Barret observed this all and grinned.

"Okay, my strident friends, we're almost at my end-destination; Gongaga. It shouldn't take you long to reach… what was it you where heading?"

"Back to wonderful Cosmo Canyon! Boy, I can't wait to see everybody again." Ramuh got excided by even talking about home.

"If you're going there, you should first take a load off at my place. 'Couse it's quite a walk from Gongaga to Cosmo."

After 15 minutes of flight, O'Brien landed his plane and leaded them to his house.

"What has happened here?" Tifa was surprised, the last time she was here with Cloud and the village was in ruins back then.

"That's a long story and I'm tired, but I'll tell you what, after we've eaten I'll fill you in on our towns history, okay?"

They agreed and where glad O'Brien brought up the subject of dinner; it has been a 4-hour flight and they were getting hungry.

"Lady's and gentlemen… it is time for the semi-finales!" The crowd cheered; they've had seen a couple of wonderful fights, and now there were four fighters left. "The first semi-finale is between 'Blazing' Jinn Katana and 'Howling-mad' Camron O'Reilly!" The warriors were welcomed with an ear-shattering round of applause.

"Listen bub, just 'couse we've become friends, doesn't mean I'll go easy on you." Camron bowed and took his fighting position.

"Whatever 'bub', like an musician once sang; 'let's dance!'" Jinn swept his leg over the ground, causing Camron to fall.

"Nice one… let's see how you like this!" Camron said whilst launching himself towards Jinn, giving him an uppercut immediately followed by a knee.

Jinn got hit full on his yaw and chest and stumbled backwards. He tried to hit his opponent but missed, causing him to lose his defense.

Camron made a back flip, kicking Jinn with his feet.

Jinn was off balance for a moment but recovered fast enough to storm towards Camron when he landed on the ground. Jinn punched him with his left arm twice followed by a punch of his right fist. He didn't want his opponent to recover just yet and gave him a series of kicks and punches.

Camron was an enormous man and could take a beating but these devastating blows could even bring a mountain down. He tried to block some hits but couldn't move fast enough to put an end to this onslaught.

Jinn saw his opponent couldn't take much more and finished the fight by placing one feet on his opponents knee, stepping over him and kicking him against the back of his head.

"And the winner is… 'Blazing' Jinn!"

Jinn got a standing ovation, waved at the spectators and left the arena, helping Camron walk.

"Good show, Jinn." Cloud patted him on the back and looked worried at Camron, "You okay?"

"…I'll live, looks like you're a hell of a lot stronger than you look!" Camron said whilst he congratulated Jinn.

"…Your turn Cloud!" Rude whacked Cloud against the head and headed for the arena.

"Damn… he's gonna pay for that!" Cloud ran towards the arena.

"And for our second semi-finale, 'Turks' Rude, and Cloud 'Blue eyes' Strife… and fight!"

"There he is, let's get him!" Kane was ready to storm Cloud but Valerius stopped him.

"Kane wait, did you see that other fighter just now?"

"Yes… but what does he got to do with our orders?"

"That was Jinn Katana, Ramuell Katana's son.'

"Yeah well, big woop-de-doe. So the kids still alive, so?"

"Didn't you see the glow in his eyes? I think the professors experiment had worked."

"So, lets grab the punk too!" Kane was getting tired of waiting and wanted some action himself.

"Wait! Let's see whom wins: Cloud or our profs experiment. It would be a great opportunity to see the experiment in combat."

Kane growled but agreed with Valerius for now.

"Let's sit down here. From this spot we can eat our dinner and watch the finals." O'Brien sat down and gestured the others to do the same.

"Alright, let's eat." Barret had an enormous plate of Gongaga-special standing in front of him.

Tifa looked around until something caught her eye; "Hey that's…" She jumped up and ran towards the ring.

"What the hell? Where's she goin'?"

Vincent gazed over the arena and saw where Tifa was heading. "…I think our quest ended before it got really started, there's Cloud."

"Wha!?" Barret jumped up and ran after Tifa.

"…You'll pay for what you did to Reno!"

"What do you mean?"

"You're pathetic…"

Rude slammed Cloud against the side of the arena and gave him a couple of knees.

Cloud pushed himself away from the wall and kicked Rude in the groin. He was about to punch him when something caught his ear, it sounded like Tifa!

Rude saw his chance and lifted Cloud from the ground, spun him around and threw him against the ground.

"Ouch, come on Cloud, kick his…" Tifa was cheering for Cloud.

"C'mon spiky, you can do better than that!" Barret stood next to Tifa, shouting even harder.

"…" Vincent was watching the fight from a distance.

Ramuh walked up to him and looked at the men fighting in the ring, "Whom are we cheering for? The one in black or the one with a chocobo on his head?"

"…For the one with a chocobo on his head."

"O okay… go chocoboy, go chocoboy! Erm… you got to hit you're opponent with you're fists, not try and break his hands with you're face!"

"Damn… I told you to get him when we had the chance, now his friend are here too!" Kane grabbed his axe and wanted to move towards the arena.

"Kane, not now!" Valerius grabbed Kane by the arm. "Wait a little longer."

"Yeah, and let them get fully armed before we move in? I don't think so! I let you have you're way for a while but now I'll do it my way!" Kane pulled his arm free and pushed Valerius away. "Now I'm gonna… the hell?"

The sound of their cell-phone caught his attention. "Aren't you gonna pick it up?"

"Are you going to wait a little longer?"

"Dammit Val, pick up that phone, I'm not in the mood for you're questions now!"

Valerius picked up the phone; his face turned pale. "Yes I understand, we're coming right away!"

"Whadda ya mean, coming right away? What about our assignment?"

"We have to drop it, the Citadel is under attack by WEAPON! And it seems someone is in control of it! We'll get Cloud later, let's go!" Valerius ran back to their helicopter.

Kane glared at Cloud one more time, mumbled: "Next time, spike. Next time." And followed Valerius.

Rude threw some dirt in Cloud's eyes, and punched him in his face. With a snap Cloud's nose broke and blood dripped on the dirt. "…Told you you'll pay!"

Cloud staggered backwards and fell on his knees. "Say you're prayers Rude, you're going down!" Cloud slowly stood up and unleashed his own variation on Tifa's 'My Final Heaven'.

"Hey… he learned that one from me!" Tifa said with a big smile on her face. "Never thought using him as my sparring partner would ever do him any good."

Barret grinned; he loved to watch Tifa and Cloud's sparring sessions, especially when Cloud got throw around the room. "Come on Tif, let's go see ol' spikey."

Vincent and Ramuh followed them to the gladiator's room.

"And the winner of the second semi-finals is Cloud 'blue eyes' Strife. And after a short recess we'll be back with our first ever championship fight in the 'Thanatos-tournament' and we'll find out whom will be the first one who can call himself 'Century Phoenix' so don't go away!"


	4. 

Chapter four

Chapter four. Strike two!

"You ok?" Jinn asked as Cloud's broken nose was treated.

"Yeah, fine… ouch!"

"Then sit still, it wouldn't hurt if you didn't move." The nurse stood up and nodded, "Well, that's all I can do, you sure you want to go on?"

Cloud looked at Jinn and grinned, "Yeah, I wanna see if the kid is better than me or not."

"I'm not a kid!" Jinn smiled and punched Cloud on his shoulder, "And if you call me that again, I'll hit you on the nose again."

"Fine, do as you wish." The nurse walked out the infirmary mumbling, "Men…!"

Cloud and Jinn gave each other a sheepish look and burst out in laughter.

"You get some more rest then, Cloud." Jinn stood up, "And Cloud…"

"Yes?"

"…See you in the ring!" Jinn left and closed the door behind him.

Cloud carefully thought his nose and lay back on the bed. I could have sworn I heard… After this fight is over I'm going to look for a phone and tell her where I am. He slowly got up and checked his nose in the mirror, Damn, should have been more careful. Cloud left the room, outside he bumped in Reno and Rude.

"…You're tougher than I imagined, see you around Cloud!" Reno smiled and turned, Rude nodded and followed Reno.

"What where you doing here, anyway?" Cloud had been curious about what had happened to the Turks after Shinra disappeared.

Reno turned and gazed at Cloud, "Why do you ask?"

"I know we weren't friends, but you only followed orders back then. I was only interested in what had become of you guy's."

Reno nodded and said; "We were sacked, as was SOLDIER. But they where taken over, and we? We were left to take care of ourselves. That's what we where doing here. Trying to get a new life started outside the gutter."

Rude pocked Reno and left. Reno turned saying; "Maybe we'll meet again, Cloud. We're traveling as mercenaries now, and good luck when you fight the boy."

SOLDIER is a private company now? Why did they want me than? Cloud shrugged and walked the arena.

**"Look at the size of that thing!" **The sight of WEAPON amazed Kane. "Why didn't they kill it yet?"

Valerius tried to fly the helicopter passed WEAPON, which blocked their way to the helicopter pad. "I don't know, Kane. But if the weapons are down, we're going to have our hands full with that thing."

-"Krrgg…Val…us? …erius? Are..ou there?"- The intercom produced a faint sound what seemed a voice.

"Valerius here. What's the situation there? Over."

-"Krrgg…APON atta… us .y ..prise. We've susta..ed ma.. casu..ties. Ple…"- the line got cut off.

"Damn Val. We godda do sumting!"

"Like what? What can we do against this… creature?"

WEAPON noticed the newcomers and faced them.

"I don't know, but we're gonna find out now!"

OMEGA opened his breastplate and fired a white-hot plasma beam, hitting the tail-rotor of the helicopter.

The helicopter started to toss and turn.** "Hold on!"** Valerius tried to keep the helicopter under control, but to no avail: the helicopter stalled and dove; nose down, to the ground. The helicopter hit the ground with a crash and after a few seconds it exploded in a great fireball, pieces of the wreckage scattered all over the ground.

OMEGA flew three more rounds around the citadel and left. A man's laughter faded as OMEGA disappeared at the horizon.

"Why won't you let me in?" Tifa stood in front of the entrance to the Gladiator's room. "A friend of mine is competing in this tournament and I want to see him."

"Lady, you have no idea how many girls use that line to get in here." A bouncer stood in front of her and refused to let her pass. "So if you'd please, ma'am. You can see your idol after the battles are over. And I'm sure young Jinn is still single so…"

"Jinn? You think I'm here for Jinn? I'm here to see Cloud."

"I'm sure he's single too, so you like the rougher ones, don't you?"

Barret got hold of Tifa before she could attack the bouncer.

"Who are you calling…"

Barret dragged Tifa away from the door and back to the tribunes. "Calm down, spiky'll kick the brat's ass and then you can see him again, okay?"

"Okay, I'll watch from up here then." She sat down with a sigh.

"Lady's and gentlemen… the moment you've all be waiting for… the championship battle. The last remaining fight… here are they, give them a big hand people… 'Blazing' Jinn Katana and Cloud 'blue eyes' Strife!"

Cloud and Jinn entered the arena, welcomed by a thunderous applause of the spectators.

"Well… you ready?"

"Yeah… you?"

"Me too, so let's dance!"

Cloud and Jinn bowed to each other and to the audience, then they took their battle positions.

"They're ready for their fight, who will win? Lets find out and start the battle! Hold on… this just came in. It seems that… the SOLDIER city, Matrilance, has been attacked by… a WEAPON!"

"What!! No, this can't be! Dad, June!!" Jinn ran out the arena.

"Jinn!" Cloud followed him, leaving the spectators without a champion.

"The hell… What's up with those guy's?" Barret tried to see where they were going.

"Come on, guys. We've got to follow them." Tifa dragged Barret and Vincent with her as she ran down the stairs.

"You coming with us?" Ramuh looked at O'Brien.

"Nah kid, I've had my adventures when I was younger. You go ahead now, or you'll lose you're friends."

"Thanks for getting us here." Ramuh ran down the stairs and at the bottom he looked up once more, after that he ran as fast as he could to catch-up with the others.

"Yeah, you go and see the world kid." O'Brien sat down and lighted a cigarette.

"Jinn! Jinn, wait up!" Cloud was yelling Jinn's name while he was running after him, "Jinn! There's nothing you can do now."

Jinn didn't react to Cloud's calls; all he wanted now was to see if his father and sister where doing all right. He jumped over a small bush, nearly tripped but managed to sty on his feet. He turned his head to shout something back to Cloud, but he couldn't see him anymore. Looks like I out run him, better wait for him here. Jinn slowed down when suddenly someone took hold of his arm. "What?"

"Huff, huff… You are fast, gotta give you that."

"Cloud? How did you get in front of me?" Jinn looked surprised; he didn't see Cloud passing him.

"That doesn't matter, what matters is, what where you planning to do once you get at Matrilance? You don't have any weapons nor do you have any means of transportation into the citadel. Or did you forget that you can't reach it by foot?"

Jinn shrugged; he hadn't thought of that nor did it matter to him, he only wanted to see his family. "…Cloud, I…" He shook his head; "I'm sorry, I just blow our chance to get some Gil, but I…"

"Hey, hey. You idiots! Now see what you have done!" A man dressed in kaki shorts, matching shirt and loaded with all kinds of weapons, stepped out one of the bushes. "I nearly got it and then you come along, making a big fuss, and scared it away." Staring at them, he sighed. "Oooh boy, should have known, SOLDIERS, never did like you're kind, showing up everywhere, making a riot, and leaving when it gets really tough." He picked one of the weapons from his back, "Then again, I never did kill a SOLDIER before… so if you would, please stand still, chaps. I believe I'll place you're heads in the dinner room, yes I can just imagine the faces of the others, they'd be green of envy of me."

Cloud and Jinn stared at the man with their mouths wide open; this was one of strangest persons they'd ever seen.

The man aimed his weapon at them, "Alright chaps, don't move, yes hold it like that please, jolly good." He pulled the trigger, nothing happened. "What? No, not again, don't worry, I'll fix this in a jiffy, happens all the time, there… that should do it." He pulled the trigger again and this time the weapon blew up in his face.

Cloud and Jinn couldn't help but laughing, the man's face was blackened as a result of the explosion.

"Better buy other weapons if you want to stay alive." Cloud grinned and turned to Jinn, "Come Jinn, lets head back to Gongaga, find a way to equip ourselves and than find a way to get to Matrilance."

Cloud looked at the man once more and turned to walk back. He stopped when he saw a man running towards them.

"Now who can that be? Hey, …mister, is that one of you're friends?"

"What are you talking about? And the name is Darien Alexis mastrimatus the third, Daralex for short."

The man in the distance came closer and shouted something.

"Blondie? What's that he's shouting? I can't make it out." Darien removed some of the dirt from his face; when he looked at the distance again, the man was gone.

"Where did he go?" He looked at Jinn and then at Cloud. "Whoa… I say, now that's a fast boy, hmmm… Hey buddy? Could I interest you in working for me, my last bait-boy got eaten by a monster last weak."

Ramuh stared at Darien for a second and focused on Cloud again.

"Huff, huff… Sorry, no time for introductions, you're friends have been captured by a horde of Iron Giants! I could escape and ran after you as fast as I could. You are friends with Tifa, Barret and Vincent, aren't you?"

Cloud grabbed Ramuh and stared at him with a worried look on his face, "What? Where did this happen? Take us to them, quickly!"

Ramuh pulled free of Cloud's grip and mumbled; "Yup, he's a friend of Barret alright." He placed his hands on his knees to catch his breath, "I can't, they took them to the SOLDIER citadel! I almost got caught myself."

"Damn, Jinn lets go, we must get there as soon as we can!"

"Cloud? What about the 'get equipped first' stuff you where talking about earlier?"

Cloud sighed and raised his hands in despair. He stared in the distance for a moment and said; "You're right, lets go back and find a way to equip ourselves."

Darien stopped them before they could move. "So, tell me chaps, are we going on an adventure, jolly good, been a while but I'm up to it."

Cloud pushed him aside, "You are not coming with us! This isn't a game, my friends are in danger!"

"You're quite right, this isn't a game, I know that. But you did have a problem with you're funding for this voyage, am I right? And I can help you with that, if you allow me to travel with you, that is."

Jinn pulled Cloud away from the rest; "Lets not waste anymore time here, if the oddball wants to give us our equipment, that's great. And whatever happens to him after that, isn't our concern."

Cloud wasn't to sure about this but agreed; he wanted to help his friends as soon as possible.

"Alright than, you can come along, and you too." He pointed at Ramuh.

Ramuh straighten his back, "You can count me in, I want to return the favor to them, they saved me a little while ago."

Cloud led the group to Gongaga, not to sure this was such a good idea.

"Looks like OMEGA just wanted to startle us. He didn't do serious damage to the main structure." A second class SOLDIER made his report at his commanding officer. "No serious damage? You call blowing up our main power supply, no serious damage? What would you call serious? Go and help clean up this place, dismissed!"

The SOLDIER saluted and walked out the room, when he closed the door behind him he sighed out of relieve; his commandant may be a woman but she could be very dangerous when she gets mad, and after what had happened to her fiancée, she was already on edge.

"No serious damage, Valerius could be dead for all we know. Come on, Dewi, get a grip on yourself." The commandant breathed deeply for a couple of times and sat down behind her desk. "First things first." She tried to read some of the reports but couldn't stay focused. "…Aaarg, I'm going to look for him!" she stood up and left the office.

"Hey, get over here! And bring some medics with ya!" A middle-aged SOLDIER was standing near a helicopter wreckage. "No buddy, ya just stay still for a minute, and don't worry, they'll fix ya up."

Two medics came running to him, "Where's the wounded?"

"There's two of 'em, I think they got hit by the helicopter when it exploded."

"Well, they sure are lucky, the helicopter could have landed on top on them."

"I'll be looking for more victims." The SOLDIER left the medics to do they're job.

"I'll call an ambulance, these are some of our own!" One of the medics stood up and called their base. "They'll be here in a minute."

"Good day, can I help you?" The shopkeeper was much friendlier now than the first time that Cloud had visited him. When he recognized Cloud, the big smile on his face disappeared, "How dare you show you're face around here again, wanna rob me again? Get out, before I call the cops!"

Hey, hey, be friendly to my guests, old man!" Darien walked in after Cloud. "They told me what happened and I must say, can't blame them for taking the blade. You must be happy they're so honest that they'd come bake and are willing to pay for it this time."

"Yeah, I'm jumpin' up and down from joy, see! Now pay and get out!"

Darien smiled and placed a bag, filled with Gil, on the counter,"As you can see, this is much to much for only the blade, so let them snoop around the shop for a while, so they can take what they need."

"You mean… you've hired these… to be you're…" The shopkeeper burst out in laughter, "Whahahaha… ya gotta be kidding me, well then, take you're time." He disappeared in the room behind the counter, still laughing.

"You heard the man, take what you want." Darien leaned against the counter and watched the rest getting their equipment. After ten minutes, everybody was armed and ready to go to the citadel. Darien said goodbye to the merchant and when they stood outside the next question rose: how to get air-transportation? They stood there, looking at each other for a moment, until Ramuh got an idea; "Shees… should have thought about it sooner, I know someone in this town that owns a helicopter! His name is O'Brien, and he lives not far from here."

Darien thought for a second and stopped Ramuh before he could walk away, "You just said, O'Brien, didn't you? I believe you did, but let me tell you sonny, I've lived in this town for a long time now, and I don't recall anybody here owns a helicopter, or goes by the name O'Brien, for that matter. But than again, who am I to question you? If you say you know someone that can take us into the citadel, lets go and meet this chap."

Ramuh looked at Darien for a moment, shrugged and mumbled; "You **love** to talk, eh?" He led them to O'Brien's house.

Darien glanced at the house and said, "I hate to bust you're bubble, but this house is uninhabited for as long I can remember. They build it one year ago, but no one wants to live in it, they say it's haunted. But then again, if you say so, who am I to question you?"

Ramuh shrugged and walked to the door, "I'll be right back." He knocked on the door and waited for a response. After standing there for one minute, Ramuh knocked again. "He must be taking a bath or something."

"Hey kid, what are you doing there?"

Everyone turned and saw a man standing in the doorpost of a house across the street.

"That house is abandoned for quite a while now, say where are the rest of you're friends?"

Ramuh blushed and muttered, "Darn, wrong house."

They all walked to O'Brien, and Cloud asked, "You are the man with a helicopter?"

"That's right, and you are one of this kids friends? Saw you in the arena earlier, shame you didn't finish you're fight."

"Erm… O'Brien? Can I ask you for a favor?"

"Sure kid, shoot."

"Well, you remember the others that where with me?"

"Yeah, who could forget that colorful bunch?"

"Erm, well, eh… it's like this…"

"I believe what the lads trying to say is, we need your helicopter to fly to Matrilance, that was what you wanted to say, right?"

Ramuh nodded and glared at Darien for a moment; this guy is getting on his nerves. "So O'Brien? Can you take us there?"

O'Brien lighted a cigarette and inhaled the smoke. He looked over the four men standing in front of him and smiled, "Alright kid, I and my helicopter are in you're service once more. I recon you want to go as soon as you can, right?"

Cloud nodded and said, "Yeah, the less time we waste the better, and thanks."

"Then let's go, the 'Dwarf's song' is waiting behind my house."

Darien hesitated for a moment and then asked O'Brien, "I say, I, Darien Alexus mastrimatus the third, have been living here for quite some time, and I can't remember anyone living here owning a helicopter. So did you move in recently? Or are you not who you say you are?"

O'Brien looked shocked for a second and than laughed, "No you're right, I moved in here recently. But I am who I say I am, I can assure you that. Now than, if that is all, can we go?"

Darien wanted to say something more, but Ramuh grabbed him and dragged him towards the helicopter.

"Let's get mossy, everyone."

Cloud looked at Ramuh and thought, Cid was right, it really sounds wimpy. "Hey Ramuh, just say 'move out' or something, alright."

Ramuh scratched his head, thinking; Why? What's wrong with 'mossy'? "Erm… let's move out."

They climbed in the helicopter and O'Brien headed towards Matrilance.

"How's Valerius doing? I heard he got attack by WEAPON when he tried to aid us."

"He's doing better now, thanks to you're help." Dewi stood in front of the commander. She had made her report on WEAPON'S attack. "But I do have one question."

The commander sat back and folded his hands, "Go ahead and ask, but if it's regarding WEAPON, no you cannot hunt it down to get revenge."

Dewi sighed, "But… as you wish, M'lord. If there's nothing more, could you excuse me?"

"Yes, get some rest, it must have been a tiring experience for you." He turned his chair and walked out the room.

Dewi watched him leave and thought, If he won't let me do it while I'm on duty, I'll take some day's off and kill the beast alone if I have too. She walked out the room and directly to the infirmary. She passed by some 1ST-klass SOLDIER'S, but not half as much as there usually would be in the citadel. Hmmm, I thought all operatives in field where called back as soon WEAPON attacked, but it doesn't seem to me that they are here. She passed by the briefing room and stopped, Huh, what is that? She looked inside the room and saw that there where at least fifty SOLDIER'S sitting there, being briefed. She snuck up to the doorpost and eavesdropped the conversation: "Well men, this is one of our biggest missions yet. This time we're not going into battle because someone pay's us too, but for ourselves! WEAPON made a big mistake when it decided too attack us! You all have you're orders, let's go get this bastard! Move out!"

Dewi turned and walked away as if noting happened, whilst thinking; So they are going to hunt down WEAPON. Why wasn't I informed about this? I'll have another meeting with the commander about this. When she reached the infirmary, she stopped and took a deep breath, after that she walked in the room and said with a big smile, "Good afternoon, darling. And how are we feeling today?"

Kane sat up in his bed and growled, "How would you feel if you're helicopter blows up right behind you? Now you have you're answer!"

"I'm sorry Kane, but I believe the lady was talking to me." Valerius took hold of one of Dewi's hands and pulled her onto his bed. "I'm doing a lot better thank you. I was lucky that they found me so fast." He kissed Dewi, and she snuggled up to him.

"Yeah, you're right Val, if they'd found us any later, we wouldn't have been recovered so fast!" Kane looked at them, cuddling together on bed, and threw a pillow at them, "Hey, if you guys wanna make out, do it some place else!" He got up out of bed, picked his stuff together and left. He stopped walking when he got at the door, turned around and said, smiling, "I'll leave you love-birds alone, shees, you guys make me wanna puke, Val… later!" He left and closed the door behind him. "Ough, still not completely recovered… shit!" Kane rushed back into the room. "Val! Dewi! Come, you gotta see this!" He stormed out the room again.

"What was that all about?"

"Don't know, better check it out. Well after you, fair lady."

Dewi stepped out of bed and threw a robe towards Valerius.

"Thanks, now let us see what that was all about."

When they got outside, there was no sight of Kane. Valerius looked around and saw Kane disappearing around a corner. He grabbed Dewi by the arm and ran after Kane. When they got at the corner, Valerius stopped and tried to find out where Kane had gone.

"Hey, come on you guys, what's the delay?" Kane's head stuck out of an open door and disappeared in the room.

"Hey, isn't that the…?" Dewi asked but Valerius had run towards the door already. "Men! Arg!" Dewi ran after him. When she entered the room she bumped into Valerius. "Alright Kane, what was so important?" All Dewi could see where three ordinary people, heavily guarded by Valerius's special Iron Giant squad. "Who are these people?"

"Lemme go, aaaarrg, ya jest wait 'till I get my hands free!" One of the male prisoners made quite a ruckus. "Whoa… I know you… yer one of the jackasses that 'napped Cloud! Hey… yer both here, what is this all about?"

Before anyone could say anything, the wall behind them disappeared into the ground and a man, sitting on a sort of throne, moved into the room.

"You are here because we need the bait."

Kane, Valerius and Dewi saluted the newcomer.

"At ease, men. Now than, let's get down to business, shall we?"

Tifa looked at the man and suddenly her yaw fell open with a snap, "No, you can't be…"

"O yes, I am. And how have you been Tifa? I've been watching you're exploits for quite some time now, sorry for not writhing you, but as you can see, I've been busy myself."

"No, this can't be… you where dead!"


End file.
